People in the UK are spending less time in natural environments since the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

An estimated 1.1 million fewer people across the UK gained health benefits from spending time in nature in 2022 compared with two years earlier.

The value of those lost health benefits was estimated at around £390 million, equivalent to £356 per person on average.

That is how much it is thought the NHS would be willing to spend if it used treatments to achieve equivalent health benefits to those gained from time spent in nature.

This drop in health benefits was also equivalent to more than 22,000 years of life in perfect health lost across people in the UK.

The trend was caused by a drop in the number of visits to – and time spent in – nature over the last two years. The number of visits is now back to levels last seen in 2019, significantly down from a coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic-led peak in 2020.

Source: Office for National Statistics